Forum for Transatlantic cruises

[Nana57]

Is there a forum anywhere about Transatlantic cruises?

[navybankerteacher]

Is there a forum anywhere about Transatlantic cruises?

 

It appears that you are starting one. We will be taking our sixth one in early November - a great way of getting home after spending time in Europe - usually at a much lower per diem cost than a regular cruise.

[babs135]

Is there a forum anywhere about Transatlantic cruises?

 

Do you mean a forum simply for transatlantic cruises regardless of ship/line? If so, I think the answer is no. You'd have to go to the specific cruise line' forum. But if you mean a thread, then yes; this is it.

 

So ask your question :D

[t60]

A trans Atlantic forum has been requested many times, but so far witout positive action from CC

 

Sandy in Spain

[Keith1010]

You can get a lot of information by visiting the various cruise lines board that have crossings.

 

Keith

[BlueRiband]

If there was one it would probably turn into a Cunard sub-forum since the Cunard Line makes the most transatlantic crossings.

[CruiserBruce]

The ports you might stop at on a TA all have boards.

[fishywood]

A whole forum of nothing but "what will the weather be like on my transatlantic cruise a year and a half from now?" Not necessary. :p

[navybankerteacher]

A whole forum of nothing but "what will the weather be like on my transatlantic cruise a year and a half from now?" Not necessary. :p

 

Actually, people with imagination are able to come up with questions and topics. It not as though the St. Maarten forum is restricted to large plane arrival times at Maho.

[NMLady]

Is there a forum anywhere about Transatlantic cruises?

 

No, there is no forum dedicated to just transatlantic cruises. Do you have a specific question? We gave been on six ta's, some were eastbound, some were westbound. Some took northern route, some southern.. Some had port stop in Azores, some at Funchal, and one in Canary Islands.

 

Our ta's have been on Celebrity, NCL, and Oceania. We are booked on a ta from TX to Barcelona next April on NCL.

[kazu]

TA's can be very exciting. Perfect ones have some nice ports before, a port before the end and then arrival. Even more perfect are glass seas.

 

No guarantee of that but the ships are taking longer to cross (other than Cunard, I think) and going for more Southernly crossings when possible so it really helps.

 

We are heading off on another one in a few weeks. Hoping King Neptune smiles upon us.

[Nana57]

Was just looking to take a B2B in October 2016 on the Celebrity Equinox which would end in Florida. Wondering if we take one in April from Florida to Europe what do you do? Do you take another ship, B2B in Europe, or do you tour on land on your own? What do you do with these transatlantic cruises?

[calliopecruiser]

TA's can be very exciting. Perfect ones have some nice ports before, a port before the end and then arrival. Even more perfect are glass seas.

 

No.....more perfect for me would be no ports between embarkation and disembarkation, but I don't think that's feasible.

 

My dream would be one day to take a freighter cruise in one direction, then a bit of a land trip, then a more traditional cruise home.

[kazu]

Was just looking to take a B2B in October 2016 on the Celebrity Equinox which would end in Florida. Wondering if we take one in April from Florida to Europe what do you do? Do you take another ship, B2B in Europe, or do you tour on land on your own? What do you do with these transatlantic cruises?

 

In our case (we were on the Prinsendam last) and had a very nice itinerary when we got to Europe, we stayed on for the Collectors Cruise (aka B2B) and did the Baltics and the Kiel Canal and after 33 days we flew home. Others may choose to explore on their own and some simply do the TA and fly home after.

 

It's all in what you want to do.

 

this time, we are leaving in November for Spain, spending time (by land) in Bilbao and Madrid and then heading to Barcelona for a couple of days and will board for our Transatlantic cruise.

 

All kinds of options and it really depends upon what you want to do. For us, we'd rather sail one way than fly whenever possible ;)

[calliopecruiser]

Was just looking to take a B2B in October 2016 on the Celebrity Equinox which would end in Florida. Wondering if we take one in April from Florida to Europe what do you do? Do you take another ship, B2B in Europe, or do you tour on land on your own? What do you do with these transatlantic cruises?

 

You do whatever you want ;)

 

I have done 1 transatlantic and 1 transpacific - both times I did a little bit of a land trip after the cruise, then flew home (3 days in Portugal after the transatlantic, 10 days in New Zealand after the transpacific). I have another transpacific coming up in 2017, and I plan to spend 4 or 5 days in Japan before getting on the cruise, rather than doing the land trip after the cruise. Spending time in Japan will be much more interesting than spending time in LA.

[navybankerteacher]

Was just looking to take a B2B in October 2016 on the Celebrity Equinox which would end in Florida. Wondering if we take one in April from Florida to Europe what do you do? Do you take another ship, B2B in Europe, or do you tour on land on your own? What do you do with these transatlantic cruises?

 

The Atlantic in April is nowhere near as pleasant as in October, or even November - plus you have a number of 23 hour days eastbound. Also, most European countries are ideal in September and October, so travelling there pre-cruise is usually better than in April or early May.

[Scrapnana]

No.....more perfect for me would be no ports between embarkation and disembarkation, but I don't think that's feasible.

 

 

Why not? Cunard does this about 15 times each year.

[t60]

This year we did a repositioning cruise from Rio, up the coast of Brazil then across the Atlantic to Spain then on to Italy. The only bad heavy seas we encountered were at Malaga where we couldn't dock because of the weather. The Atlantic was smooth. I think the original idea (not from me) was for a TA and repositioning cruise forum

 

Sandy in Spain

[calliopecruiser]

Why not? Cunard does this about 15 times each year.

Of course - somehow I forgot about the most common transatlantic crossings. Duh!

[Markanddonna]

I have posted about the need for a board about transatlantics in the past and even contacted the Cruise Critic staff about it. They have lifeless boards like "world cruising" which is just a tiny fragment of the cruising population. Why can't they have TA board?

 

I chuckled at the one poster who worried about all the postings being about "What kind of weather should I expect on a TA?"

[NMLady]

Was just looking to take a B2B in October 2016 on the Celebrity Equinox which would end in Florida. Wondering if we take one in April from Florida to Europe what do you do? Do you take another ship, B2B in Europe, or do you tour on land on your own? What do you do with these transatlantic cruises?

 

Since, except for Cunard, once a ship crosses to Europe it is there for 5-7 months until its return to US, most ta passengers fly back to US.

 

In a few cases, such as ours rt air is cheaper than one-way so for our April ta we are purchasing rt air, will fly home from Barcelona and then next October will fly to Europe for the ship's return ta to the US. We love the relaxation of sea days.

[Markanddonna]

I personally like the spring TA better. The weather was actually BETTER on the spring TA going on a northerly route to Copenhagen as compared to my fall sailing from Rome in the Mediterranean. Like me have learned, you can't predict the weather. The one thing you CAN predict is that you have more hours of traveling sunlight in the spring.

[NMLady]

I personally like the spring TA better. The weather was actually BETTER on the spring TA going on a northerly route to Copenhagen as compared to my fall sailing from Rome in the Mediterranean. Like me have learned, you can't predict the weather. The one thing you CAN predict is that you have more hours of traveling sunlight in the spring.

 

We prefer the Fall ta because it is westward so all of the time changes are an hour back, giving a longer day, and more restful, at least for us.

 

Usually our route is southern so, within a day of leaving Europe, the weather is more comfortable. Because of budget we don't book balcony cabins. So, the outside temperature is not a concern to us. So far we have been blessed to have very few days of choppy seas each cruise, no matter the direction.

[maryjaden]

I think this would be (is) a great post. I am fairly new to cruising, but my daughter is spending Jan - May 2017 in Scotland for college. I am seriously considering a TA to visit her, spend a week there and fly home.

 

I haven't even looked into the specifics of this and am not sure it is even feasible.

[Markanddonna]

MaryJaden,

You can't predict the weather but I highly recommend a cruise to visit your daughter in the spring. Here is how you could do it:

Take a TA to Barcelona and hop on a cheap European airline to England/Scotland. Think Norweigan Airlines or something like that.

Take a TA to the Baltic regions and get off in Copenhagen. Fly or take a train to Scotland.

 

I think the majority of CC people love fall TA's but I have an additional plus for a spring TA. Any "jet lag" is taken care of on your 11-16 day TA across the Atlantic and you are fresh and ready to begin sightseeing when you disembark. You do "lose" 5 hours on a trip to Europe but you get them back eventually. 5 hours loss out of the 336 hours you might be on a spring TA is insignificant to me.

 

We still need to rattle the cage at Cruise Critic about a TA board!